A week came and went in Rhodes Island. Apollo was currently walking through the halls with both a cup of orange juice and a folder full of paper with the words 'class material' written on it.

"So today is the day." Apollo checked his watch to find that it was still very early in the morning. He informed Kal'tsit that class will start at 8:30AM and it will go until 12:30PM so that he doesn't take up all the students' time since he knows that they also have work to finish in the landship. "I wish my teachers were as generous as I am to my students' time." He said this as he thought of the many times he had to wake up early in the morning for track practice.

It was currently 7AM when he entered the classroom. It wasn't either big or small, it could house about 20 students with some space left over. In the front of the class was a small gray desk accompanied with a similar colored chair. In the room everything was in a similar gray color, as if this was an extra room. In this room of gray however layed a mix of blue, yellow and white with 9 tails .

Apollo recognized her but the name was escaping him, he placed his folder on the desk and looked at the roster of students. "Ah, your name is Lisa right?"

The child nodded her head. "That's right. You're Mr. Kotemine right?"

"Correct, but you can drop the 'Mr.'. I hate being formal even as the leading authority in the room." He replied while leaning back in his chair.

"Oh, ok Mr. Apollo." She replied with a bright smile.

Apollo could only sigh. "It is what it is, I guess. Did Kal'tsit tell you anything about what we are doing today?"

"She only told the others and I that you were going to teach us something from your homeland, she stated that it could be a useful asset for Rhodes Island. In that same vein, what are you teaching us exactly?"

"I'll explain when class starts."

Suzuran nodded in response.

People started to trickle in as time went by, he recognized none of them except Marth and Angelina.

"I believe that's everyone who is taking my class. I'll take attendance, correct me if I mispronounce your name." Apollo said as he grabbed the roster.

"Suzuran?"

"Here."

"Skyfire?"

"I'm here."

"Vigna?"

"Present."

"Angelina?"

"Here."

"Ptilopsis?"

"I am present."

"Last but not least Marth?"

"I'm awake."

"Then there's me. Everyone is here on the first day of class, good."
Apollo placed the roster on his desk and went to the blackboard. He wrote his first and last name.

"You can call me either by my first or last name, just don't put 'Mr.'. I hate formalities." Apollo pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Today's class won't be too intense, rather it's for me to get to know you and each other, rules and the basics of the class. I'll start."

Apollo unfolded the paper, and used magnets to keep it on the wall. "This is my homeland." On the paper was a map of Japan, and only Japan. "It's an island nation, called Japan. Along with that I was raised in a church although I'm not religious."

"If you aren't religious then why do you have a cross? It seems very contradictory" The one who asked was the white hair women named Ptilopsis who Apollo noticed resembled an owl.

"The cross was a gift from the father who raised me in the church. However I would rather not make this all about myself, tell me about yourselves." Apollo said as he sat on top of his desk.

For the next 30 minutes they introduced one another, however since many of them knew of each other it was more of an introduction for Apollo to understand who he's teaching. The main thing that stuck out to him is that Skyfire was from an organization called 'Kings Wand', they are currently cooperating with Rhodes Island for various reasons. Along with that Ptilopsis's way of speaking felt robotic, or rather computerized. Apollo jotted down mental notes as more facts came in from the others.

"Alright. With introductions done, we can start with the lesson. However I will make one thing very clear in regards to what I'm planning to teach you. Your knowledge on arts isn't likely to help you much from here." Apollo erased his name and wrote something else.

"What do you mean by that exactly?" Skyfire asked.

"Simple, because what I will be teaching isn't arts. The skills you will be learning from me are from my homeland of Japan which is called magecraft. There is a key difference between the two even though at low to average levels that can be seen as similar things.

"What difference would that be?" Skyfire asked again.

"Simple, in my homeland originium never existed. Therefore things such as originium staffs, tools and whatnot couldn't be made." Apollo pointed to the board. "For a lot of our history we used a mix of science and something called magecraft which instead of being powered by originium we used magically energy also called mana."

The Ark

As the sun continued its journey from east to west an alarm signaled the end of class went off.

"It appears that's all the time we have today." Apollo stated as he put down a marker. He looked to his new found students, all of them having varying expressions. Skyfire, Ptilopsis and Marth all had determined expressions as they wrote down notes. Some of the younger operators such as Suzuran, and Vigna had determined expressions as well but you can clearly tell their brains were frying. Apollo could only chuckle as if he could see a question appear in their eyes at times. Angelina was in the middle of the two extremes.

Apollo saw someone raise their hand. "What is it Suzuran?"

"Will you stay afterwards to answer questions?" She asked with a hint of red in her checks, most definitely out of embracement.

"I was getting to that." Apollo reached into his chest pulling out a sphere containing a homunculus, he threw it on the floor and the homunculus came out. He had a simple appearance, having a grey sweater and pants. It had no facial features, in place of it was a large question mark. "If you have any questions and you can't find me for whatever reason go to him. He will either tell you where I am or pass on the question to me."

Everyone replied with confirmation.

"With that class is dismissed, remember we meet every other day." The students were packing up their notebooks and other such things. Each person said their various goodbyes, even Marth since she had an appointment with Saria. Apollo gave each person a small book containing the basics he covered today for review if they needed it. He packed his notes and lessons and headed towards his next destination, Kal'tsit's office.

Apollo may have seemed calm and composed on the outside, but on the inside he couldn't lie that he was nervous. Apollo was never one to have a boss, there were very few people he would call boss, in fact there were less than ten people in existence. The clanking of Apollo footsteps came to a halt as he stood outside the door of question. He ran his hand through his hair and opened the door.

"Ah, Mr. Apollo. It's good to see you today."

"Sup Amiya and it's just Apollo."

Upon entering he was greeted with two familiar people Kal'tsit and Amiya were present however the latter was being blocked by the stack of papers. The paperwork could be compared to a skyscraper with how high it's stacked. She poked her head out

"I'm here to give my report on today's class, however now I just want to eat some popcorn while I watch the two of you struggle with all this paperwork." A smug smile appeared on his face.

"That's quite cruel of you Mr. Apollo." Amiya replied as her ear flopped like a sad donkey.

"While it is great to see you are in a great mood Apollo, you can place the report on my desk right here."

"Report?"

"Yes, the report I told you to write regarding your classes and what happens in them."

"Ah, that one." Apollo walked up and placed the multi-page report containing not just what he covered today but things he's planning to cover over the next month on her desk. "Kal'tsit would you also like to learn about magecraft?"

Kal'tsit stopped writing and looked up at Apollo. "At the moment I do not have any plans on learning to perform magecraft, however I will accept any knowledge you have." Kal'tsit crossed her legs instantly, increasing her 'head boss' level even higher. "I will look over this when I have time. I hope that you can answer any questions I have on the material." She said.

"Of course. If that's everything I will head out, about to head towards the engineering department." Apollo said, crossing his arms.

"That will be all. You are dismissed." Kal'tsit said.

As Apollo was heading out he turned around and looked towards the bookshelf at the side of the room. "Amiya, while I understand you are being respectful to me since I'm older than you. You can drop the formalities, I'm not a fan of them nor am I important enough for that. You're the main character, not me." Before Amiya can respond Apollo was already out of the room.

Within the office most people would say that only Amiya and Kal'tsit were inside.

"So he's the newest operator to join us."

However inside the room there was another observer.

"Apollo Kotemine, one of mysterious origins and an even more mysterious ability. What is your take on it Scout?" Kal'tsit asked while looking towards the bookshelf.

As if a veil was removed a Sarkaz man appeared leaning on the shelf. "I feel as if my opinion wouldn't be the most critical. If you wanted someone to judge his character then either Outcast, Ace or Raiden would be better candidates."

Kal'tsit looked at Scout. "Scout, you are an elite operator of Rhodes Island, a former member of Babel, and someone I trust. Your opinion is valuable to both me, Amiya and all of Rhodes Island."

Scout could only sigh against Kal'tsit's way of words. "Well for starters, he seems well meaning. Casual will be the best way to describe him, it won't surprise that he will arrive at a high profile board meeting with shorts and a tank top."

"I feel like that's a good thing. Maybe he can be another Raiden for the younger operators, he's even able to connect to Ifrit quickly." Amiya said as she poked her head out again.

"Not bad, even Raiden had trouble reeling in that child. However there is something else I felt." Scout walked towards the couch on the opposite side of the bookshelf. "While he is casual, he's also very observant. I take pride in my ability in stealth even W thought the same but he looked as if he knew I was there just before he left. He even winked at me."

Kal'tsit leaned back in her chair and narrowed her eyes slightly. "At this point, I'm not that surprised anymore, there is always something new with him. Someone of unknown origin, unknown power, and good social skills. " Kal'tsit grabbed another file. "For now all we need to do is hope nothing happens in the engineering department."

"If you are worried about him causing trouble I can head down there. My next mission is in two days so I have time." Scout replied while pulling out a napkin and alcohol to clean his goggles.

"That won't be necessary, while Apollo is unknown in many ways I have a different concern."

"And that concern is?"

"Amiya informed me that the last time Apollo was in the engineering department she saw Apollo dragging Closure on the floor while she was begging for her life-"

Scout suddenly stopped cleaning his goggles upon hearing that. "No need to finish, I'm heading down there right now. I need to ask Mechanist for something anyway." Scout left the room and went towards the engineering department. Little did he know of the stupid chaos awaiting him.